first woman in they to hold the job and the firswon to serve in the joint chiefs of franchetti has been the vice chief of naval operationsince 2022 and was the commander of u.s. naval forces korea among other key naval positions. she s also commanded two carrier strike groups and been the recipient of multiple service medals. her official name, barbara millicent roberts, may not ring a bell but say her nickname, barbie i didn t know it was her official name. saying barbie s government name all over. she doesn t want everyone to know that. created by mattel in 1959, she is getting new life in the live action movie making its debut this weekend. it is distributed by cnn s parent company warner brothers discovery. the film allows barbie to question her own reality, something consumers have been doing for her for decades. cn cnn has more.
reporter: barbie mania. barbie curious fans strutting into theaters on opening day in what could be one of the biggest box office weekends since the pandemic. it is a love story. reporter: barbie can be a polarizing figure. i think the most interesting thing about barbie is that she is a conduit for interesting conversation and controversy. reporter: author tanya lee stone says some see barbie as a feminist icon while others see her as sending the wrong message to women. there were as many people sending me stories of how barbie made them feel less than, inferior or gave them body image issues as there were people who felt she was empowering to them. reporter: even some of the movie s stars didn t see barbie as influential at first. i was not a barbie girl. reporter: but the new movie puts barbie in the real world. you have to go to the real world. reporter: with real problems, an identity crisis. barbie in the real world, that s impossible.
reporter: and president barbie is the first female president. turn to the barbie next to you, tell her how much you love her. reporter: president barbie has been around since 1992 but she wasn t always embraced. here she is on snl in 2016, the first time a woman claimed a party nomination for president. the first barbie commander in chief. oh, neat. reporter: now seven years later barbie is back in the political arena and being celebrated. reporter: here is lil aggressive, michigan governor gretchen whitmer s look-alike barbie driving in front of the state capital in a pink convertible. hi, barbie. reporter: she is signing legislation, talking manufacturing and infrastructure. barbie has been an icon tweeted witmer, and a reminder it is so important to support one another and create systems that allow more people to achieve their own dreams, no matter who they are, what they look like or what they wear. let s keep fighting for that
dream world. we have seen a lot of barbie pink outside of this amc movie theater in new york city, people going in wearing bright pink, fuchsia pink, light pink to see the movie. show time is here playing every half hour to an hour, so a lot of options. i spoke to two young girls who had just come out of seeing the movie. they said she were surprised by how much the movie was about women empowerment, but that only deepened their love of barbie and deepened barbie s experience. victor, amara. that looks like a lot of fun. i m also looking forward to seeing ryan gosling as ken. all right. vanessa, thank you so much. you don t agree? i mean, yeah, you know, ryan gosling. yeah. still ahead, lionel messi wastes no time stealing the show. and the other way! magnificent. we will show you how the soccer super star sent fans into a frenzy in a dream debut.
to women. there were just as many people sending me stories about how barbie made them feel less than or inferior or gave them body image issues as there were people who felt that she was empowering to them. reporter: even some of the movie s stars didn t see barbie as influential at first. i was not a barbie girl. reporter: but the new movie puts barbie in the real world. you have to go to the real world. reporter: with real problems and identity crisis. and president barbie is the first female president. turn to the barbie next to you and tell her how much you love her. reporter: she s been around since 1992 but she wasn t always embraced. here she was on snl in 2016, the first time a woman claimed a nomination for president. the first barbie commander in chief. oh, me. reporter: now seven years later barbie is back in the political arena and being